Operating means



5 Sheets-'Sheet 1 l/Vl/ENTO @duwt 9. u?

ffy Mr f? *au ,q TTOR/VEIY OPERATING MEANS A. -l. STEBBINS `Filed Feb e, 1926 ITYTIIII lllllllllllll n' May 10 1927.l

May 1o, 1927.

A. H. STEBBINS OPERATING MEANS Filed Feb. 6, 1926 5; ASheejts-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY May 10 1927' A. H.`sTEBB|N OPERATI NG MEANS 1926 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 6,

Patented May 10, i927..

UNITED( STATES ALBERT n. ys'rnisisriv's,or Los ANGELES, cAIgrroRNrA.

OPERATING MEANS.

Application led February 6, 1926. Serial No. 86,533.

This invention relates to novel means for imparting a progressive vibratory movement to concentrator decks, screens and other frames supported for vibratory movement.

The proper operation of table concentrators depends largely upon the nature ofthe movement employed, for while the vibratory movement should serve to advance the materials over the deck surface, it should not be sufiiciently energetic Vto interfere with the stratifying operation of the materials.. The

nature of the movement imparted to screens and other separating devices. is likewise iml portant for, while it should agitate the materials to promote their separation, it should not be suiiiciently energetic to hurrythe materials along without properly separat-ing them. l t

Although various forms of operating meanshave been proposed heretofore, dii- `culty has been experienced in developing a simple construct-ion that could be readily adjusted to produce the desired operating movement, and which isv capable of being operated with a minimum amount of power.

The present invention is therefore directed to a simple form of operating meansthat may be readily adjusted to produce any desired type of movement, and which is strong and durable andrequires only a relatively small amount of power to impart a quick initial movement yto a heavy deck, screen or other device vbeing vibrated. y One important feature of the present 'invention resides in a rockingmember having a cable actuating portion that is olf-set from the axis about vwhich the rocking member rotates, and in means for rocking the member to thereby alternately tension and slack off the operating cable.

Another feature of the invention resides in an operating cable having one end anchorcd and its other end connected to theL frame tobe actuated while lan intermediate portion of the cable is looped about an actuating element in such a manner that the movement imparted tothe frame yby the cable is twice as greaty as the movement of the actuating element.

Another feature of the invention resides inthe construction whereby the ynature of the movement imparted to the device being operated may be varied as desired by changing the position of the angle through which r the rockingmemberoscillates.

Still another feature of the invention resides in the arrangement of the cable or cables whereby a minimum amount of power .will suiiice to operate the mechanism, and whereby the wear and tear upon the operating'parts is reduced to a minimum'.

Other features of the invention and novel combination of parts in addition to the above will be hereinafter described in connection with the accompanying v drawings which illustrate good practical forms of the invention,

In the drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation with parts in section of a frame supported for yvibratory movement and shows operating means constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the supporting base. and operating means of Fig. 1, the fibratory frame being indicatedwin dotted mes;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side view of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a side view of a frame supporting base showing a modified form of operating means; x

Fig. 6 `is a view similar to Fig. 5, but shows a Asecond modified` form of operating means;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line y 7-7 of Figr; and

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the operatingmechanism of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale. n

The operating means of theipresent invention is well adapted to impart 'a progres "sive vibratory. movement to concentrator decks, screens and various other devices supported rfor back and forth movement.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings lthe frame 10 may constitute the supporting carriage for a concentrator deck or screen, or other structure mounted for back and forth movement. The casing shown for supporting the frame 10 is provided with the longitudinally extending side rails 11 which are-secured lto the uprights 12,'and in the present case the means shown for supporting the frame 10 upon its casing consists of the transversely extending shafts 13 which are supported near the opposite ends of the base or casing by the brackets 14; These shafts are provided at their opposite ends with the downwardly extending arms 15 having-adjacent their lower ends the laterally extendlll() ing stub shafts 1.6 that extend into bea-ring blocks 17 secured to the under face of the frame 10. The arrangement is such that this frame will partake of a slight rising and fallingmovement as it moves back and forth in the direction of its length. The construction so far described forms no essential part of the present invention and may be varied as desired.

The operating means forming the subject matter of the present invention may be variously constructed and a. `goed, practical form is shown in Figs 1 to 4- inclusive which 'ill now be described. The frame 10 is shown provided with yielding means for 'urgingthe same in a right hand direction viewing Fig. 1, and with power operated means for moving` the frame in the left-hand direction. The yielding` means illustrated consists of a cable 18, o ne end of which is secured to, a threaded pipe or har 19 which is adjustably secured to the frame 10, while 'the opposite end of the cable 18 is secured to a threaded tube or bar 20. having` adjustable nuts 21 at its outer end, and a coiled yspring 22 is confined between these nuts and a transversely extending bar 23 of the support-ing casing.

An intermediate portion of the cable 18 passes around a grooved pulley or sheave 24 which is rotatably supported by a shaft 25. The ends of this shaft are mounted in the brackets 26 secured to the longitudinally extending beams 27 that may be fastened to the upper portion of the supporting casing so, that they lie parallel to and between the spaced side rails 11 of the supporting casing. In the construction just described the tension of the spring- 22 may be varied as desired by adjusting the nuts 21 so that the cable 18 will exert a continuous pnllupon the frame urging the same in righthand direction with the desired amount of force.

The power operated means for moviiu;- the frame 10 in the left-hand direction con.- sists of a cable 28 one end of which is secured to the threaded tube or rod 29 fastened to the frame 10. rlhis cable is shown as extending around a grooved sheave or pulley 30 supported by the shaft 31. the opposite ends of which are mounted-in the brackets 32, and the cable passes doufnwardly from the sheave 30 to the means which serves to tension and slack off the cable. This means might be variously constructed and as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 comprises the grooved sheave 33 which isfsupported for movement bodily towards and from the upper sheave 30, and the means shown .for supporting' and imparting cable operating movement to the sheave 33 consists of a crank shaft 34 journaled in bearing brackets 35 secured to the side. beams 11 ofthe supporting casing. This crank shaft has an offset portion or wrist-pin 36 upon which the sheave 33 is journaled, and the sheave is preferably split as will be apparent from Fig. 3 so that the opposite halves of the sheave may be fastened about the wrist pin by the bolts 37.

The arrangement is such that rocking movement of the crank shaft 31 moves the sheavc 33 bodily toward and from the slieavc 30.l

ln practice it is found desirable to rock the crank shaft 3,1 through a relatively small angle to actuate the sheaves lt is therefore desirable to provide means .for increasing the movement imparted to the frame 1() by the cable 28 so that movement of the sheave through a small angle will vtending shaft 39.

As a result of this construction the movement imparted to the portion of the cable 28 that is secured to the frame 10 will bel double the movement imparted to the sheave 33 in the cable tightening direction. ln this mannerv a relatively slight movement of the sheave 33 will suffice to impart the desired amount of movement to the frame 10.

rlhe. are through which the wrist pin 36 of the crank shaft isrocked to actuate the sheave 33 may assume various positions about the. axis of the shaft 3.4i-, but this arc preferably lies either at the upper or lower side of the shaft 34 so that the sheave 33 during part of its movement will travel in approximately a horizontal direction as will hereinafter more fully appear.

The power operating cable 28. and the actuating' sheave for this cabley are shown in Fig. 1 in full lines in. the` position'they occupy when the frame 10. hasA reached the end of its stroke in the right hand direction, and

inl dotted lines inthe position they occupy when the frame 10 has reached the end of .its stroke in the left-hand direction. lt will therefore beapparent from the two positions of these parts that the crank shaft 34 rocks througha relatively small angl-e in imparting theI back and forth. movement to the :frame 10, and it should be noted that when the frame 10. ismoved to the left-hand end of its path of travel the wrist pin 3.6 of the crank shaft occupies a lposition in Vwhich it lies at its' greatest distance from the upper sheave 30. the movement-of the crank shaft inthe cable let-olfl direction will be such that it will slack olf the cable with a slow initial movement As a result of this arran ement shaft 34 is rockedy back and forth through a small angle (say less than lying adjacent the dead centre position of the wrist pin 36 with respect to the cable 28. The. speed at which the frame 10 is moved ybythe cable 28 rapidly decreases as the parts approach the dead centre or Zero position in which they are shown in full lines in Fig. 8, and rapidly increases as the parts approach the dotted line position in which they are shown in Fig. 8. This not only constitutes an extremely simple construction forl producing *anv accelerated movement, but also permits the application of the power that rocks the shaft 34 in a direction that is most effective to pull the shaft in the desired direction, as will more fully appear. y

The means for imparting the desired rocking movementto the crank shaft 34 might ,bef variously constructed, and is shown in Figs. l and 2. as comprising an operating cable 40 one end of which is secured to a bolt k41 that may beadjustably secured to a cross beam 42 of thesupporting casing by a nutl 43 engaging a threaded end of the bolt. An intermediate portion of the cable 40 is vlooped about a grooved sheave 44 mounted upon an eccentric 45, which eccentric is rigidly secured to an operating shaft 46. rlhis shaft is journaled in the bearing brackets 47 and may be driven by. a pulley (not shown). The other end of the cable 40 is secured to the crank shaft 34, and to this end, inthe construction shown, the crank,

shaft isv provided with a lever or arm48 the inner end of which may embrace the shaft 34 and the outer end of whichis provided with a yoke 49 to which the end of the cable is secured, the yoke being connected to the outer endv of the leverl by a pin 50. -The arrangement just described is such that as the power shaft 46 rotates, the eccentric 45 on this shaft rotates within the sheave 44 and moves Athe latter bodily toward and from the crank shaft 34. This serves to alternately tension and slack off the cable 40, to thereby impart the desired rocking movement to the crank shaft 34. A. spring 5l is preferably provided having one end anchored tothe supporting casing at 52 and the other eud secured to the lever 48, so that this spring will continuously urge the crank shaft inv a direction to maintain the cable 40 taut.r The spring 5l serves also to pull the crank shaft 34 away from its dead center position with respect to the cable 28. l

The nature of the accelerated movement imparted to the frame lO Vmay be` easily varied as desired by changing the position of the arc thru which the crank shaft'34 rocks. A`This may be best illustrated by reference to'Fig.Y 8, wherein the operating parts `just described are shown onza much larger scale. The angle thru which the crank shaft 34 rocks obviously may be made as small, or as great as' desired, dependingupon the construction of the operati-ng eccentric 45 or other yoperating means. Let it beassumed that tlieangle thru vwhich the crank shaft 34 is moved equals 'an angle of 359 and `thatthe path of thismovement lies between the lline indicated by zero of Fig. 8 and that indicated by 35, wherein the zero line indicates the position occupied by the crank shaft whenitimparts its maximum take-up moveyment to the cable 28. It will be apparent that by increasing the length of the power voperating cab-le 40 the angle thru which the ysuch as that defined by the lines 10P and 45..

'ln this case the movement imparted to, the frame l() will be more energetic than in the case where the angleA of movement is confined between the lines 0F and 35.'

The length of the operating cable 40y may be varied by adjusting the nut 43, or if itis desired to make. a substantial change in the position of the operating parts. then the angular position kof the lever 48 may be changed relatively to. the side arm 53 ofthe crank shaft by removing the bolts 54 from the position in Awhich they are shown in Fig.y 4 and inserting them iny the holes 55 to thereby effect an angular adjustment between the levers 48 and 53. From the foregoing: description 4of, the novel movement forming the subject mattei' ofthe present invention. and means described for effecting the same, it will be seen ,that the sheavev 33 moves from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 8 to the position; shown in dottedlines in this figure` under the action of ther springsQQ and 51,. thus slacking off the cable 28 to` permit the frame 10 to move in a. right-hand direction. It will `also be seen that the movement of the sheave 33, in the oppositedirectiomto take up the cable 28, is effected by exerting a pull on the power operating cable'40 that pulls the crank shaft in a contra-clockwise.r direction, this being `effected by the rotating eccentric acting loo lll)

liu

l CSU lili be actuated by an eccentric 57 on the power operated shaft 58. In this modified construction it will be necessaryV to impart a greater throw to the eccentric 57 than in the 'construction shown in Figs. 1 and 2 because when a cable is employed as in Figs. 1 and 2, having one end anchored and the other end connected to the crank shaft, the movement imparted to the free end of the cable i0 will be substantially four times as great as the displacement of the eccentric from the central axis of the power shaft, whereas in Fig. 5 employing the pitman the movement imparted to `the crank shaft 23.4 will be approximately twice thedisplacement of the eccentric from the axis of its operating shaft.

In the modified construction shown in Fig. 6, the construction and operation is sub stantially the same as that shown in Figs. l and 2 except that the operating sheave, in-

" stead of being mounted upon the wrist pin of the crank shaft, as in Figs. 1 to o inclusive, is mounted upon a relatively large eccentric 59 secured to the shaft 60, and about this eccentric is mounted a sheave 61, antifriction bearings being provided between the eccentric and sheave. Rocking movement is imparted to the shaft 60 and its eccentric 59 by a crank arm 62 to which the cable 40 is secured by the yoke 19.

`When the frame is supported for back and forth movement by swinging arms 15, as shown in Figs. l and 2, it may be desirable to vary the connection between the operating cables 18 and 28 and the frame 10, to-

thereby vary the upthrow movement 1mparted to this frame by the arms 15. rlhe rods 19 and 29 secured to the cables 18 andv 28 respectively are therefore shown as cxtending thru the sleeves or brackets 63 which are rigidly secured to the transversely extending beams 64 of the frame 10, and these 'rods may be'adjusted lengthwise thru the sleeves 615 by adjusting the nuts G5. The adjacent ends of the rods 19 and 29 are preferably connected by the threaded hand buckle GG, this construction being desirable in order that the pull of one cable may be directly transmitted to the other thru the hand buckle (36.

It will be apparent from thc foregoing that thc nature of the accelerated movement imparted to the frame 10 may be readily varied as desired by increasing or decreasing the length of the operating cable to thereby vary the position of the angle through which thecrank arm rocks. It will also be apparent that when the frame 10 has reached the end of its stroke in a right-hand direction it is quickly pulled in the opposite direction by the power actuated means, thus imparting a progressive movement in a righthand direction to the materials being treated. The movement of the frame 10 in a left-hand direction under the action of the power operating means gradually decreases in speed as the crank shaft 34- approaches its position of maximum take-up movement shown in full lines in Fig. 8.

`What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for imparting a progressive, vibratory movement to the frame, comprising a sheave, a cable looped about the sheave and having one end anchored and its other end secured to said frame, a rocking support for said sheave constructed to move the sheave bodily to and from a dead centre positionV with respect to said cable, and means for rocking said support thru a limited angle lying near said dead centre position. j

2. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a sheave, a cable looped about the sheave and having one end anchored and its other end secured to the frame, a crank shaft having an oH-set portion upon which the sheave is journaled, and means for rocking the crank shaft thru a' limited angle to tension and slack-off the cable. i

3. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for imparting `a progressive vibratory movement to the frame, comprising a rocking member havinga cable actuating portion offsset from the axis about which the rocking member swings, a cable looped about said olf-set portion and having one end anchored and its other end secured l to the frame, and means for rocking said member to move its off-set portion back and forth through a small angle lying adjacent the dead centre position of the oE-set portion with respect to said cable to .thereby tension and slack off the cable.

1. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a rocking member having a cable actuating portion off-set from the axis about which the rocking member swings, a cable extending from the frame to the off-set portion, means for rocking said member to move its off-set portion back and forth through a small angle lying adjacent the dead centre position of the off-set portion with respect to said cable, and an adjustable connection between the rocking member and operating means to vary the position of the arc thru which the member rocks with respect to said dead centre posit-ion.l

5. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a sheave,

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a cable having an intermediate portion bent about the sheave and having one end secured to the frame and the other end anchored, a rocking member having an off-set portion upon which the sheave is mounted and which normally extends from the axis of the rocking member in the direction of the cable take-up movement so that a line passing through said axis and centrally through said off-set portion lies approximately parallel to the portion of the cable extending from the olf-set portion towards said frame, and means for rocking said member through a limited angle toward and from said normal position.

6. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for imparting a progressive vibratory movement to the frame, comprising a rocking member having a cable actuating portion off-set fromr the axis about which the rocking member rotates, a cable looped about said off-set portion and having one end anchored and its other end secured to said frame and arranged so that the strands of the cable extending from the opposite sides of the olf-set portion lie in substantially parallel relation to thereby impart a movement to the frame that is equal to twice the movement of the cable actuating means in the cable tensioning direction, and means for rocking said member through a limited angle about said axis to and from the position of maximum cable'take-up movement.

7. In combination with a frame supported Y for backA and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a rocking member having a cable actuating. portion off-set from the axis about which the rocking member rotates, a sheave supported by said off-set portion, a cable looped about said sheave and having one end anchored and its other end secured to said frame and arranged so that the strands of the cable at the opposite sides of the sheave lie approximately parallel to each other to thereby impart a vmovement to the frame that is equal to twice the movement of the cable actuating means in the cable tensioning direction, and means for rocking said member. v

8. In combination with a frame supported for back and forth movement, operating means for the frame, comprising a rocking memberhaving a cable actuating portion oif-setfrom the axis about which the rocking member rotates, a cable extending from the frame to the off-set portion, and means for rocking said member to actuate it, including a power driven eccentric, and a second cable anchored at one'end and having its other end secured to the rocking member and having an ,intermediate portion looped about said eccentric to cause the latter to impart to the active end of said second cable a movement that is double the movement of the eccentric in the cable tightening direction.

9. In combination with a frame supported.

for back and forth movement, operating means for imparting aprogressive vibratory movement to the frame, comprising a rocking shaft having a pairof arms extending laterally from the shaft in spaced relation to eachother and having a cable actuating relement pivotally mounted between them near their outer ends, a cable extending from the frame to said actuating element and arranged to be actuated with a variable speed movement as said arms move through a small angle to and from the dead centre position of the arms with respect to said cable, and means for pulling the rocking arms from a slightly inclined position to said dead centre position to impart a rapidly decreasing speed to the cable. l

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

ALBERT H. STEBBIN S. 

